"I was gate-raped by my Government" - from Shannyn Moore

[Blue_In_AK]

Shannyn has apparently talked the Anchorage Daily News into publishing a column from her each Sunday (to counterbalance the vile Paul Jenkins probably).

Here is her piece from this morning: http://www.adn.com/2011/04/16/1813827/i-was-gate-raped-by-my-government.html

We're Alaskans. We fly.

I don't like it, but with 80 percent of our communities off the road system, flying is a necessary part of our lives.

Last month, Rep. Sharon Cissna, a survivor of both physical abuse and breast cancer, refused an invasive TSA pat-down at SeaTac. Instead of flying, she returned to Juneau by ferry. I reported her story on my radio show with a lump in my throat. She's an Alaska hero.

I am not.

I recently returned from Washington, D.C., where I'd celebrated Bristol Bay salmon, met Erin Brockovich, attended a reception with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, bore witness to the blooming cherry blossoms and visited family.

On departure day, I got to Reagan International early and made my way through security.

Nudie Scanners.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/04/16/1813827/i-was-gate-raped-by-my-government.html#ixzz1JoZWepd0

It's nice to see that most of the comments are positive and supportive depsite the fact that Shannyn is a known "leftie" in our community. :patriot:

[seabeyond]

1. cowards, cowards, cowards, cowards..... i hate, that people are so fuckin afraid they turn head away

so this is allowed
fuckin cowards

[ThomCat]

2. Nobody in our government seems to want to change this

because there is too much money involved. Can't interfere with the prestige of money, and giving out those contracts to the well-connected. x(

Who cares if people are getting molested, and rights are being trampled on a daily basis for everyone who needs to travel? Who cares?

Damn it! I care!
I hate that this shit is happening in our country!
Sexual Assault as official policy needs to stop! It doesn't serve any honest purpose. It's just there to intimidate us, and fool us into thinking that this is real security.

It isn't real security. The TSA keeps failing their own real security tests. They keep losing their own security badges that give access to secure areas. They don't even bother to check people who work for vendors who have free and open access to those secure areas. They aren't searching the baggage compartments of planes, and scanning everything that goes into them.

That would be real security. Sexually Assaulting passengers, taking and saving porno pictures of passengers for latter viewing pleasure, That is Not Real Security.

Is anyone listening?

[classof56]

3. Just read Shannyn's article and I'm shaking.

Bless her for her courage, her strength in enduring such an awful invasion of her privacy given her horrific experience, and for writing about it. She is an inspiration on many levels. Shame on the TSA for subjecting people, even young children, to these so-called "safety measures". I am fortunate right now to be one of those citizens who has written off flying anywhere and see no reason why I should be compelled to do so. My heart goes out to those who go through these ugly assaults on their person.

Peace and blessings

[sabrina 1]

4. Horrible! And there are actually people who support this.

That was hard to read and I'm sorry it happened to her. She should sue, everyone who has been assaulted by the TSA should sue until they just go away.

And to think this came about under the Obama Administration. Under Bush, civil liberties groups were able to keep those gross rape machines and their hideous 'enhanced pat-downs' (which were added to force people to choose the machines) out of our airports.

And Obama says he agrees with them. Thank YOU Napolitano, the woman responsible for this.

[reggie the dog]

5. in order to come to the usa i have to get on one plane

to go home to france. within the usa, last year i drove to california from chicago, this year i will drive from chicago to florida. i fly as little as possilbe nowdays. when i have a bit more money i will start taking the train up to nantes, france, then the boat to boston or new york and a train to chicago

[seabeyond]

6. i have driven from coast to coast. i refuse to give my money to these people.

i will continue to drive. if i cant drive, i wont go. a whole side of my family is pissed at me

oh well

[SoCalDem]

16. same here..no more flying for us..

All our elderly family members are gone, and the ones who are not so elderly (my brothers & sister) are at the top of my shitlist. Two of our grown kids live away from here and they come to see US..the youngest lives 30 minutes away..

I have ZERO interest in ever flying again

[seabeyond]

21. yup. nt

[Le Taz Hot]

27. "If I can't drive, I won't go.".

::raises hand:: I'm also a victim of rape and I would either break down sobbing like she did (PTSD anyone?) or try to take as many out as I could right before they threw me in jail for assault.

[LisaL]

7. If she says to TSA agent, "I don't want you to touch me" she

clearly isn't giving consent to it.
Now, exactly what allows TSA agent to touch her anyway?

[blunderbuss]

9. exactly what allows TSA agent to touch her anyway? the people do

that's who. people stamped and screamed and said how can they this and how can they that, but in the end they put out their arms and let themselves be molested.
you want to stop it, cancel your ticket saying you're not going to be molested. when revenue drops the airlines will respond. until then just be a good citizen and show us your naughty bits, hey, after all, they(the tsa) are just following orders, just doing their jobs, blah blah blah.

[LisaL]

10. The airlines are not in charge of the TSA.

[seabeyond]

14. betcha they have some lobby power and influence. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. Not that much. Nothing influences the TSA.

Don't you want to be safe? Do you want the terrorists to win?

:sarcasm:

Seriously, nobody dislikes the TSA more than the airlines and their employees. Passengers hate the procedures so much that they don't want to fly, which is not a good situation for the airlines. They want people to fly, and the TSA's procedures have become an impediment.

[seabeyond]

20. that would be why, after a pilot made a stink, pilots became exempt?

not buying it.

[demigoddess]

8. if all women and supportive men would boycott the

airlines would soon change their tunes. HIt them in the pocketbook, people. But we will want our vacations.

[LisaL]

11. Again, the airlines are not in charge of the TSA.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. The airines are not behind this, and they don't like it either.

Even pilots and flight attendants have to put up with invasive screening. This is entirely on the TSA - if they used more sensible, less invasive procedures to screen passengers nobody would be happier than the airlines and their employees -- who have to put up with it every day.

[LisaL]

13. I believe the pilots are now exempt from this.

[sabrina 1]

15. Yes, they are. The Pilots Union backed two of their pilots

who refused to go through the machines or submit to those gross pat downs. Those two pilots are now suing the TSA. And as you said, under that intense pressure they have dropped the ridiculous demand that pilots participate in this gross violation of their rights every time they go to work.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. The change hasn't gone into effect yet, though it's been approved.

They haven't worked out the details. And it took *ten years* for the TSA to figure out that it was stupid to make pilots go through security like passengers. And flight attendants still aren't exempt.

I know an airline pilot who had to give up his wings pin from his uniform because some TSA drone said he couldn't have it because it had a sharp point, and another who had to give up a spoon he carried in his flight bag to eat yogurt with.

:eyes:

[a la izquierda]

18. This is FUCKING OUTRAGEOUS!

I don't even know what else to say. And sorry for the cussin'.:mad:

[hlthe2b]

22. Highly recommend... This is what our "democracy" has come to...

Shannyn Moore is courageous to write this up and publicize what a very small minority of us would justify in the names of security. To these latter sad few, I simply provide you this quote from founding father, Ben Franklin: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

[SheilaT]

23. She points out that the pictures

taken by the new machines would be considered porn if found on her laptop. She doesn't explicitly say it, but the pat-downs would be considered molestation in any other context.

I have not been raped, so I do not have that in my psyche, but I am completely unwilling to fly these days. I will drive, or maybe take a train, but not get on a commercial airplane.

[Blue_In_AK]

24. If there were any way that we in Alaska could drive

to visit our friends and family in the Lower 48, I'm sure most of us would, but it is prohibitively time-consuming, as you can imagine. As Shannyn pointed out in her article, we up here really have no choice if we ever want to leave Alaska -- or even if we want to travel within Alaska to the towns off the road system. We even have to fly to get to our capitol unless we plan to take several days to get there. It's 700 miles from Anchorage to Haines by car (including travel through Canada which requires a passport) and then you have to take a 4-1/2 hour ferry ride on to Juneau.

[SheilaT]

29. Yep. And although I've never even had

the pleasure of visiting Alaska, it is easy to imagine someone who lives there, loves living there, does not want to relocate to the lower 48, but nonetheless would still like to occasionally visit elsewhere.

Unless or until this TSA nonsense ends, the only way I will ever get to Alaska will be by cruise ship, or a very lengthy driving trip.

[Magron]

25. Is it about security or is it about training people to take previously unacceptable orders?

[lostnfound]

26. Bingo. Nt

[Pooka Fey]

28. K&R